COAL - Clpdigital.org

34 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
scarcely known in other and less favored localities.
Mr. F. Cuming, who visited Pittsburgh in 1807,
in his "Sketches of a Tour" states that on entering
Habach's tavern, at Greensburg. he "was
no little surprised to see a fine coal fire, and was
informed that coal is the principal fuel of the
country fifty or sixty miles round Pittsburgh."
Of coal at Pittsburgh, he says:
"It is as fine as any in the world, in such plenty,
so easily brought and so near the town, that it is
delivered in wagons drawn by four horses at the
doors of the inhabitants at the rate of five cents a
bushel." In consequence of this cheapness "there
are few houses even amongst the poorest of the
inhabitants where at least two fires are not used—
one for cooking and another for the family to sit
at."
In 1803 the first foundry was built in Pittsburgh.
In 1809 a steam flouring mill was erected.
In 1 SI 1 the first steamboat, the New Orleans,
using Pittsburgh coal as fuel, descended the Ohio
the first of that long line of boats that have plied
on this river using and transporting Pittsburgh
coal. In 1812 the first rolling mill was built, getting
its coal from Minersville. In 1813 two
steam engine woiks were reported in the town,
which number had increased in 1814 to three,
and. in addition to these, three foundries were
reported in the same year.
Till: INDUSTRY IN 1S14.
In Cramer's "Navigator" for 1814 is a most interesting
statement regarding the coal and coal
banks of Pittsburgh at that time. It says:
"This place has long been celebrated for its coal
banks, and both as to quantity and quality it is
not exceeded by any part of America or, perhaps,
of the world. It is in fact in general use in all
private houses and in the extensive manufactories
established through the town. Coal is found in
all the hills around this place for ten miles at
least, and in such abundance that it may almost
be considered the substratum of the whole country.
The mines or pits wliich supply the town are not
further than from one to three miles distant, between
the rivers. Until within a few years no
coals were brought across the Monongahela. but.
since the price has been advanced from the increased
demand, a considerable supply is now obtained
from that quarter. Little short of a million
of bushels are consumed annually; the price.
formerly 6 cents, has now risen to 12, keeping
pace with the increased price of provisions, labor,
etc. Several of the manufactories have coal pits
at their very door, such as those under the Coal
Hill, which saves the expense of transportation.
The coal pits on the side of the Coal Hill are
about one-third from the top, which is about on
a level with the stratum on the opposite side of
the river. There are forty or fifty pits opened,
including those on both sides of the river. They
are worked into the hill horizontally, the coal is
wheeled to the mouth of a pit in a wheelbarrow,
thrown upon a platform and from thence loaded
into wagons. After digging in some distance,
rooms are formed on each side, pillars being left
at intervals to support the roof. The coal is in
the first instance separated in solid masses, the
veins being generally from six to eight feet in
thickness, and is afterwards broken into smaller
pieces for the purpose of transportation. A laborer
is able to dig upwards of 100 bushels per
day. It is supposed, and perhaps with good reason,
that the main or principal stratum lies considerably
deeper, as in the English collieries; but
the quantity so near the surface of the earth will
for a long period of time render it unnecessary to
look for it at a greater depth. Fuel, that indispensable
necessary of life, is so cheap here that
the poorest rarely suffer for want of it. We do
not witness near Pittsburgh that pitiable spectacle,
the feeble infancy and decrepit age of the
unfortunate poor, suffering in a cold winter day
for a little fire to warm their meagre and chilly
blood—we do not see them shivering over a few
lighted splinters or pieces of bark gleaned from
the highways or torn from the fences in the skirts
of the town."
IT WAS SMOKY THEN.
At this early date Pittsburgh had earned the
right to the sobriquet Smoky City. Cramer, in
his "Navigator," before referred to, says:
"As every blessing has its attendant evil, the
stone coal is productive of considerable inconvenience
from the smoke which overhangs the town,
and descends in fine dust which blackens every
object; even snow can scarcely be called white in
Pittsburgh. The persons and dress of the inhabitants,
in the interior of the houses as well as the
exterior, experience its effects. The tall steeple
of the Court-house was once painted white, but
alas, how changed."
We cannot follow the growth of Pittsburgh and
its manufactories in order to show how rapidly
the consumption of coal increased. Rolling mills,
nail factories, foundries, machine shops, glass
works, saw mills, paper mills, woolen factories,
cotton factories, among the great industries, and
the thousand and one minor trades that gather
about a great town, were established here. All of
these used coal for power and many of them still
larger amounts in manufacturing processes. The
steamboats plying on the rivers and the salt
works made large demands upon the mines, while
still greater quantities were sent down the Ohio
to the lower country. It was estimated that in
1833 there were ninety steam engines in Pittsburgh,
consuming 2,065,306 bushels a year; 3,600,-